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Those of us who cover crime for a living can become pessimistic about the way people treat one
another.

And then every so often, we have our faith restored.

A story in the Oct. 24
Dispatch detailed the attack and rape of a young mother at a Near East Side bus stop. The
next day, a 69-year-old Madison County woman emailed Theodore Decker, the reporter who wrote the
story.

“If you talk to (the mother) again please let her know how admired and respected she is,” she
wrote. “Please let her know she has nothing to be ashamed of — rape is a violent crime — victims
aren’t responsible for the crime.

“I would like to do something for her and her family. Unfortunately, I am not wealthy or there
would be a car in her future!”

She may not be wealthy, but she is generous. Since first writing, the woman has sent $450 in
personal checks made out to Decker, who cashes them and delivers them to the grateful mother.

The donor, who wants no attention for herself, has sent another $100 in gift cards bought with
the help of her church. And a second woman, from the Far East Side, has proposed buying clothes for
the mother’s two children.

Those are slated for delivery this weekend.

• • •

You know that phrase, “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out?”

Last Tuesday, a just-fired employee at the McGraw-Hill Cos. on Taylor Station Road called
Gahanna police and said that the door had, in fact, hit her. She said that the person who had hired
and fired her — a representative of a staffing agency — struck her with the door on purpose. Others
on the scene told a different story.

The woman’s husband also had worked at McGraw-Hill and had recently been fired, according to the
police report. She was upset about it and cursed at a supervisor and the staffing-agency
representative. So she was fired, too.

The staffing-agency representative denied the door strike, and the Gahanna officer could find no
evidence that it happened. The officer told the fired woman that she was no longer welcome at the
business.

She said that she didn’t intend to cause further trouble.

• • •

In other reported employee flip-out news:

An employee of Ohio Steaks on the Far East Side told his manager this month that he was about
$800 short on one evening’s sale of meat, according to a Columbus police report. The manager
replied that that was unacceptable and turned to call the owner.

The employee knocked the manager down and ran out. He jumped into a company truck with $2,100
worth of steaks and left with another person.